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DAVISVILLE - The Polymer Alliance Zone Inc. is among six West Virginia recipients sharing $554,000 in Rural Business Development Grants from the United States Department of Agriculture.
The Polymer Alliance will receive $197,000 for an employee parking lot for a new industry in Wood County, improve truck access to an industrial incubator space in the PAZ Technology Park, improve exterior lighting on an industrial building for an existing tenant in the Technology Park and resurface the industrial access street into the Technology Park. The Polymer Alliance will provide additional detail on the scope and timeline of the projects as plans are finalized.
“Rural Business Development Grants are one of the most effective tools available for reaching the small and emerging businesses and industries that drive employment in our counties,” said Keith Burdette, president of the Polymer Alliance Zone. “USDA Rural Development is investing in the businesses that exist in our community and the ones who have recently invested in our community and continue to grow, and that is exactly where the region’s next major influx of jobs will come from.”
The Polymer Alliance's 12 member counties along the Ohio River in West Virginia include some of the state’s most concentrated industrial assets, including chemical and polymer operations, metals and automotive manufacturers and suppliers and industry-ready river, rail and highway infrastructure. Alongside the industrial base are smaller businesses that supply, service and support those operations.
“The companies that win work from our region’s manufacturers are frequently the ones with a dozen employees, not a thousand,” Cam Huffman, director of external relations for the Polymer Alliance, said. “Helping them build capacity is how the region captures more of the value from the industry it already has, and how a local supplier becomes a regional one.”
The grants were announced Wednesday by John Reisenweber, West Virginia Rural Development director. Rural Business Development Grants support technical assistance, training and related activities that help small and emerging private businesses start, expand and compete in rural areas.
Other recipients were the city of Ravenswood of $30,000 to help at least five small businesses in the downtown district with marketing training, one-on-one coaching, website development support and coordinated digital engagement tools. The project also includes the development of a Strategic Marketing & Technical Assistance plan to improve business capacity and economic activity.
Seven jobs will be created through this investment.
The BCKP Regional Intergovernmental Council, through its nonprofit affiliate Mountain State Small Business Finance will receive $99,000 to encourage use of the U.S. Small Business Administration 504 Loan Program in the distressed counties of Calhoun, Roane and four other counties.
Advantage Valley will receive a $99,000 grant to provide additional funding to the Advantage Valley revolving loan fund for small businesses in Jackson and nine other counties.
Braxton County will receive a $59,000 grant and the city of Hinton has received $70,000.
The Polymer Alliance Zone represents Jackson, Mason, Pleasants, Tyler, Cabell, Wayne, Wood, Wetzel, Marshall, and Ohio counties.